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Environmental fate & pathways

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Bromine is an inorganic substance with the molecular formula Br2. Upon contact with water, volatile bromine is released, and bromine in the aqueous compartment reacts rapidly to form hydrobromic (HBr) and hypobromous acids (HOBr). These products also dissociate, such that all the various forms of halogen (free, combined, residual oxidants) will exist in an equilibrium dependent on a number of variables such as pH, temperature, concentrations, electrochemical environment, headspace, dissolved solutes, suspended materials, light wavelength and intensity, among others. Estimated log Kows for bromine are 1.03 and 1.49 (Annex VII Section 7.8), so it has a low potential for bioaccumulation. The Canadian Council of Resource and Environmental Ministers (1987) concluded for freshwater organisms, since chlorine and chloramines do not appear to have any potential for bioaccumulation or bioconcentration, it is reasonable to assume that this is probably the case for bromine and bromamines.